7/27/2005 10:56:00 AM|||Kurt|||Just a few general thoughts and notes in the inbox:
• The latest Carnival of the NBA is up at The City and shows you just how many new NBA blogs are out there — and how much action there is in the off-season.
•Gonzaga University has set up an email account where you can send get well wishes to Ronny Turaif. It is ronny@gonzaga.edu. The reports are that his heart surgery went as well as could be hoped.
• Apparently, his high school coach isn’t sure Andrew Bynum is ready for the NBA right now. I’m not sure anybody really does (nor should we fans expect it). The real questions that need to be asked are these: Will he ever really be ready for the NBA? What would be better for his development toward the NBA — two years of college or two years of limited playing time but plenty of practice time and more focused coaching on the NBA level? We’ll know the answer to the first one in three to five years, the second one we may never know.
(By the way, that is some good reporting by Bresnahan in the Times today, providing some background and fleshing out the overall picture of Bynum. I wish, however, that he and others would stop with the Shaq comparisons — Bynum is not that style of player and will not be asked to play a Shaq-like role in the offense.)
• Great read about Kobe's return to Nike advertising — you can always count on Eric Neel to be smart and well written.
• Computer programmer or serial killer? Think you can tell them apart? (Thanks to Rob at 6-4-2 for posting that link first.)
• I liked HBO’s Entourage last season, but this season it has really hit its stride. It’s now must watch at our house. No show gets better cameos (Ralph Machio and Pauly Shore had the best ones so far this season).
• Great off-season topic over at Hoops Analyst — the best trades in NBA history. They are breaking it down by division, so far having covered the Atlantic, Central and Midwest.
• That is one athletic team the Washington Wizards will have on the court next season — Antonio Daniels at the point, Gilbert Arenas at the two, Caron Butler at the three and Antawn Jamison at the four. We’ll see what kind of defense that group will play (Daniels is good, however everyone else mentioned is below average), but on offense they should be a real entertaining group.
• If the Lakers waive Brian Grant as part of the one-time luxury tax cuts, expect him to end up in Miami (thanks to Ben Maller for posting that story).
• For the record, I didn’t read Basketball on Paper while on vacation. The new Sarah Vowell book, Assassination Vacation, is an entertaining and clever read that also shows why history should be fun and not feared. (Plus, you have to love a writer that in her last book said she loves Pop-a-Shot.)|||112248700497175226|||Fast Break